The Most Minimal Computer Music Converter

[terrybooth]

Thanks, Lazmo.
I'll have another go at 1.3. Yes it was the forever spinning updating. But it never updated after 10 minutes or more and at no point could I see my NAS in database.
I've ordered the HiFiBerry with the phonos on. I'll hang on for that. Thanks for the offer.
I put it in place of my TFS yesterday. Interesting. I need to do a bit more listening but there appears to be sonic differences between the two transports.

[terrybooth]

The HiFiBerry is now here, so the experiment continues.

[terrybooth]

Raspberry PI

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This is what I've been playing with so far. Bog standard Raspberry Pi. All I've done is to put Volumio (version 1.2 and 1.3) on an SD card (sticking out on the right) and a little bit of config. Lan and USB connections in the left hand side and play.

And this is the next stage

Pi plus DAC in bits.

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On the left is the HiFiBerry DAC, the white bits under are a nylon bolt and the little bit in between is the header part which needs to be soldered on the pi right next to the larger header you can see under the yellow RCA plug.

Several minutes of hamfisted soldering later and I have this.

After soldering (the burnt bits are on the bottom).

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So all that remains is to assemble the bits

Boards Assembled

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(I wish I could do selective focus like that when I try).

So it's back in the bottom of the case (I need to hack the top about if I want to get it back on) and into the network. It's now sitting where my Mac/Beresford were and playing internet radio (despite aforesaid hamfisted soldering).

All I need to do now is get the thing to read files from my NAS box (which seems to be the most difficult part of this project).

[terrybooth]

Well. I've resolved the issues with connecting to the NAS box and managed to listen to it a bit So the way the music goes is

NAS -> (wired network) -> RasperryPi/HiFiBerry Dac/Volumio 1.3 -> sound cord -> Technics VX500 (direct in) -> 2.5 mains cable cores -> KLH speakers on cheapy speaker stands controlled from a PC or a tablet

and it appears to produce a very enjoyable sound indeed.

I've not done any critical listening. I've just been feeling the horrorpilations creep up my back and arms at various bits (e.g. the intro to Joni Mitchell's 'Your My thrill" from Both Sides Now). I've got to go out for the evening but I think I would be glued to this for some time digging through the collection.

[_D_S_J_R_]

Probably no profit in it, but an elegant NVA cased Pi plus audio card, mounted with captive cabling where necessary might be an interesting project. My skills at drilling plastic, let alone metal, are dire and I just couldn't do a neat job. Having seen how small the Pi is, I'd hate to break one.

[Dr Bunsen Honeydew]

The case company does all that, all NVA has to do is glue the parts in in the right place and wire it up.

[jammy395]

Its look's like HIFI Lego........

[terrybooth]

Given that the Doc is looking at powered speakers that you can put one on top of the other, perhaps it's a good way to go. Fewer cables anyway.

[terrybooth]

More baby pictures!

I've bodged the RaspberryFi Case to get the top sort of back on.

Back in the box

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Not pretty and definitely not 'hifi' in looks, I know, but as an exercise in minimalism, short or ripping off the ports I ain't using, I don't think that I can go further.

Just to reiterate the minimalism concept, and the main reason I'm trying this. What I'm trying to do is to take a digital music file, convert it and push it to an amplified with the fewest components, so:

• I started with Volumio. This is a stripped, down Linux based Operating System whose only purpose is musical reproduction.

• Reading about Volumio, I was hooked by this bit:

Scenario 1: My little Raspberry Pi (powered by Volumio, of course) is hooked up to a zillion dollar USB DAC, which feds my interstellar amplifier.

My precious one and zeroes are facing this path:

Raspberry Pi -> USB Bus -> USB Cable -> Zillion Dollar USB receiver -> I2S -> Zillion Dollar DAC -> Interstellar Amplifier

Quite a long way, isn’t it? Add to it all the intrinsic issues affecting connection interfaces, and you got quite a good idea of what is happening here.

Scenario 2: My little Raspberry Pi (you know what comes here…) has a tiny DAC hooked on it, via I2S connection, feeding my full-of-common-sense amplifier

The flow of my zeroes and ones?

Raspberry Pi -> I2S -> DAC -> Full-of-common-sense-amplifier

I’m sure now you feel the truth deep in your heart, and the force is with you. But there’s more to come, to sum up and make it shorter, these are the main advantages of having a raspberry pi i2s DAC setup:

Ideal signal path: shorter signal path and interfaces (USB, S/PDIF) avoided
We’re not using the troublesome USB bus of the Raspberry PI, consider pop and clicks a thing from the past
Cheap yet good sounding setup: 80 bucks for a staggering price/quality combo

From the volumio blog

Where I think I can go is to listen to it (a little more about that later) and to consider where to take the idea.

This is a music streaming device. And many will argue that is the way purchased music is going. There are various ways this is going at the moment from Spotify to cloud music storage services like google music manager. You can take a general purpose computer to access this material (like the TFS or the MAC I've used) or you can use some sort of dedicated device, like this here.

At the moment, this device can play music from a NAS device, from it's own SD card (I think it will take a 32gb card) and from an attached USB device and it has Web Radio out of the box. So far, I've only tried Web Radio and NAS files.

It's now sitting in my main system and I've had a quick listen to it. My first impression is that it sounds better than with the Asus DAC connected via USB. So next steps for me are:

• Do my own listening comparison with the TFS

• Look at a way of making it a system in itself. This I think would require a powered USB hub, a USB drive, a cross-over network cable and a laptop to act as a client. That should enable it to be plonked down in any hi-fi system to play.

• Try it with a wifi dongle

[terrybooth]

I've spent a little time comparing this with my TFS/Asus Dac. So far I'm finding it difficult to find any sonic differences between them.

I have them both plugged into my main system and I've been doing A-B comparisons using the same bits of music. I've got to the point where I'm starting not to listen to the music any more. So I've packed it up for a bit.